As many of you know, forums and especially forum games have been on decline as people have moved on to different social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and reddit. In order for VGS to survive, @TexAgRepublican and I are proud to announce we will be shutting this forum down.
Instead, we will be utilizing Skype. With Skype we can have live in-person Senate debates, speeches, and public relations. Players will be able to, using Google Docs, schedule stuff based on the real-life schedules of the AB.
We will also be implementing a point system. The player with the most points will win a $50 giftcard to Ross Dress for Less. You get points by passing major bills: extra points for bipartisan bills and for becoming President. Can you be the most effective politician?

@realDonaldTrump: If GOP senators don't support our National Emergency on the Southern Border, I will personally﻿ recruit and fund candidates to replace them who do.
@TexAgRepublican @realDonaldTrump bold words from a man who will be replaced by one of those Republicans in two years time.

1. Yes, the Russia Hoax is ongoing.
2. If we don't have borders, we don't have a country. I did what I had to do. (Yes, and I'll be releasing a news story about it)
3. All the shutdowns IRL occurred IG, yes.
4. I didn't like it. It didn't do the trick. But I signed it anyway.
Basically, we'll be starting on the date the new round starts and going from there. So everything that happened before the round begins happened IRL, just to make it easier for everyone. We also didn't want to start a round in the middle of a shutdown.

(Don't always believe what you read, this publication will have some outrageous articles and some serious. Obviously, this could argued to be in the outrageous category)
Is Lady Jacky Secretly Black?
Recently, California Republican Congresswoman “Lady Jacky” Jacky Williams made a comment to the San Diego Union-Tribune that she thinks Black America “deserves better than a family that uses rampant nepotism to gain power. That's not how the system is supposed to work. One day we will have a Black president, and it won't be a 'King.”
That is of course in reference to the recent appointment by Speaker of the House King’s appointment of his brother, Reginald King, to the chair position of the House Armed Services, Foreign Affairs, and Judiciary committee.
However, those comments in particular have led to speculation in the beltway about why Jacky Williams thinks Black America deserves better when she herself is not black.
Could she actually be black? Could she be like Ellen Ripley in last July’s sci-fi hit, Aliens? Maybe she has been rescued by a deep salvage team after being in hypersleep for 57 years. A hidden part of the movie could have been that Ellen Ripley was actually black before being in hypersleep. Is Jacky Williams here from the past, or in this case 1929, where she was actually a black woman living in America?
We will keep you updated on this story, and more importantly, the latest speculation as we get it.

First of all, I want to thank everyone for responding to the player survey. These surveys help give us a picture of how we’re doing and how we can improve. Since then, we’ve had some pretty serious discussions internally about where we need to go from here. The area of improvement most cited by players in the survey was reality response, and therefore generating/developing more scenarios will be a priority for the AB moving forward. To help us do this, I have decided to hire one more admin. @Huffines will be joining us on the AB. While Huffines is a new player here, he is not new to govsimming or politics in general. He’s been involved in real life politics here in Texas and played extensively on Tedder’s Capitol Hill game for the past year, eventually becoming President. He has always wanted to be an admin, but for various reasons (too valuable as a player, ideological balance on the AB, etc) the opportunity never presented itself. He is very excited to have the opportunity to do so here on VGS. His main focus will be on two things that we are currently lacking: scenario development and PAC’s. Huffines and @Sweet Daddy have already talked to me about new scenarios, and these will be rolled out soon (along with Trump’s reaction on twitter of course). Huffines will also be rolling out PAC’s to get more money to players and simulate the effects of special interests. Please welcome Huffines to the AB, and thanks for your continued interest in VGS.

U.S. Senate Descends into Chaos During Congressional Battle Royale
Washington D.C- The carnage on Capitol Hill was apparent from miles away as the first annual Senate Battle Royale commenced this Wednesday. Wielding armor, googles, and paintball guns, Senators across the Hill duked it out for ultimate supremacy in an attempt to appeal to younger voters. Elizabeth Sawyer (D-MD) struck the first blow in the competition after finding an automatic paint rifle hidden by the Candy Desk in the Senate chamber, using it to zap Senator James Sutherland (R-IL), who was desperately searching for armaments up in the gallery. From that point on, it was open season for the members of Congress’ upper house, with no clear favorite emerging.
During the mid-game, it appeared that a bi-partisan Gang of Six was going to wipe the floor with all contenders, but paranoia got the better of Senator Jared Elkins (D-NJ). Elkins first shot fellow New Jerseyite Gio Pagnotto in the back before turning on the other members of the group, which erupted into a fracas that left none of the former front-runners alive. Joe Dotson (D-WA), who had been tracking the group, was able to pick up the pieces of the melee, looting weapons from the cold, proverbially dead hands of his Republican colleagues. In the end, the contest seemingly came down to Dotson, Sawyer, Wilson Baudin (R-AR), and Luke Recks (R-AZ). Recks then pulled off the play of the game, dispatching Dotson and Sawyer in a three-way battle before sniping Baudin from long distance. The accomplished economist, mistakenly claiming victory, returned to the Senate House to claim his reward as the final zone began to close in.
At press time, Republican Senator Grayson Manado of Washington had won the contest. Manado, who had been hiding under the Senate clerk’s desk with a paint pistol throughout the duration of the contest, claimed victory by shooting Recks in the lower leg as he returned to the chamber.

Interest Groups Scramble as Congressional Trade Deadline Approaches
Washington D.C- Rumors were swirling across the Beltway this Thursday as corporations were faced with tough choices to make at the United States Congressional Trade Deadline. Perennial legislative contenders Exxon Mobile and Lockheed Martin were hoping to bolster their roster of purchased congressmen, while formerly major players in the law-passing game such as the American Coal Council were left staring down a long rebuild. After Exxon re-signed company favorite Senator Bill Malcolmson (R-AL) to a multi-year extension during the last lame duck session, many were wondering whether they had enough in the budget to trade with NARAL for highly sought after Senator John Hawkins (R-OK). But the petroleum giant proved doubters wrong, dealing Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and a third-round pick in the 2019 Freshman Congressman Draft for the rights to the hard hitting lawyer from OKC.
In the Democratic Conference, JP Morgan Chase was looking for a partner with which to offload former 2017 first round draft pick Chet Winger (D-NC). Once a highly touted prospect for the banking conglomerate, Winger’s stock within the tight-lipped organization reportedly fell after the centrist Democrat began to spout some left-leaning populist dogma during a press conference at the the end of the 115th congress. In the end, the best they could do was swap him with Time Warner Cable for some cash and several state legislators, with CEO Jaime Dimon rationalizing that it worth worth swallowing an imperfect deal in order to move what they saw as a cloakroom cancer off the company books. The other big story of the day was the AFL-CIO’s fire sale, as they offloaded Senators Justine-Sana Bauer and Anderson Whitman for a haul of 2020 and 2021 draft selections. When asked if the organization was calling it quits on getting anything done in the 2019 legislative session, union president Richard Trumka urged his members to “trust the process”.
At press time, fans of the USC were groaning and preparing for another year of legislation dominated by the NRA dynasty, who's entire roster took pay cuts in order to keep their squad together.

Character Name: Elizabeth MasdenHome State: WashingtonPrevious Job: Politics (Congressman, Governor, Mayor, or lower rank)
Spokane Tribal Council (2004-2009)
Natural Resource/Land Committee Head ATNI (2006-2009)
Congresswoman WA 05 (2009-2013)
Senator for WA (2013-)Date of Birth: 05/23/1979Race / Ethnicity: American Indian or Alaska NativeReligion: Protestant ChristianWealth: Middle ClassGender: FemaleSexuality: HeterosexualMarried?: YesChildren?: 2
Elizabeth Masden was born May 23, 1979, on the Spokane Indian Reservation in the city of Wellpinit, Washington. Elizabeth's family ranched and farmed just outside of the community, and despite this, her family still struggled economically. She was soon taken under the wing by a member of the Tribal Council, who helped her get the recommendation to attend the private Catholic Gonzaga Preparatory School in Spokane. After graduating from Gonzaga Prep she went on to enroll in Gonzaga University, seeking a degree in business administration and communications. While enrolled at Gonzaga Elizabeth met fellow Spokane tribe member, Joseph Browneagle, and the two quickly got married, and after both graduated from Gonzaga moved back onto the family ranch and their family quickly grew with the births of their two sons.
Elizabeth soon got a job as the head of the Natural Resource/Land Committee on the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, a nonprofit representing a multitude of tribes throughout the Pacific and Mountain Northwest region. She worked on that committee representing and fighting for native values of responsible and sustainable land management and ownership. Once her children grew a bit older she decided to run for Tribal Council of the Spokane tribe and was soon elected as a Chairwoman, representing her community on the tribal council. Soon thereafter she was promoted to the Executive Council of the ATNI, further growing her political influence in Eastern Washington, especially amongst the native population.
In 2007, she announced she would challenge Cathy McMorris-Rogers for Washington's Fifth Congressional District. She was able to turn out young, minority, and new voters in droves thanks to a social media, and twitter campaign aimed at exciting a progressive base of voters, with the support of typically liberal policies such as a move towards renewables, a public healthcare option, and debt-free college. However, she was able to maintain support among the areas many conservatives by proclaiming she was personally pro-life, while politically pro-choice, and also an advocate for responsible second amendment rights, being a gun owner herself.
In 2011, after narrowly holding onto her Eastern Washington seat, Masden decided to jump into the open Senate race after Maria Cantwell unexpectedly decided to retire. She won by double digits.

A big welcome to Huffines ^
Since some have asked, the debates for both primary fields being held by an independent entity on the same day required priorities to be transposed slightly so yes, barring complete cataclysm ARs should come out some time tomorrow. I didn't get home until well into the evening last night, and had to catch up on everything I'd missed and make sure y'all had your SIG money after Clay had to pick up the slack of my unexpected LOA this week, and have had to fit AR grading in between the two debates, but you'll get them by tomorrow night.

Dolores Huerta Reacts to Si, Se Puede and #SiSePueda
Dolores Huerta, the American labor leader who popularized the phrase ‘Si, se pueda’ during the struggle for Latino labor rights released a statement to the Associated Press following a tweet from United States Senator Randy Rivera (D-NM) about Senator Catherine Williams’ (D-CA) use of the phrase in her own tweet promoting the Spanish-language version of her campaign website.
Huerta, long known for her unwillingness to mince words, condemned both Senators. “’Si, se puede’ is a registered trademark of the United Farm Workers. It is our slogan. It was something that emerged from deep within our souls during a dark time in our history and helped empower us to overcome our oppressors. It was already stolen in the past for broad political campaigning, and with every use it becomes more disassociated with what we intended it to be. It is about labor liberation, the rights of the worker, and the freedom of Hispanics. It’s not about getting anyone elected to political office, but that is what it has become.” She said, likely referencing the English translation of ‘Yes we can’ used by Barack Obama during the 2008 election as well as various other times the phrase has been re-appropriated for personal, commercial, or political use.
“At the same time,’ Huerta continued. “It has become part of the public consciousness. It has come to mean more than those initial struggles, and the spirt of si, se pueda belongs to all those that have embodied its spirit over the decades. While it is our legal property at the United Farm Workers, it is something that stopped being exclusive to the spirit of Hispanic Americans or laborers long ago.”
So far, the use of the phrase by Rivera has not particularly resonated with Democratic voters, who have been torn between seeing it as pandering to a narrow part of Rivera’s base and it just being a rip from the Obama 2008 campaign, where it became a rallying cry for his base. The use by Catherine Williams has been even more chastised due to Rivera’s embrace of the phrase, and the larger twitter-verse has mocked her misspelling of ‘puede’ as well as various other errors in her Spanish language website, such as when she claimed that she had ‘announced with the diverse and extraordinary women of the view.’
As it stands, neither the use of the phrase or Rivera’s claim to misappropriation have had a significant impact in the polls, but both have turned some heads and caused some chuckles. When pressed on her interpretation of the Iowa Straw Poll, Huerta commented that she was going to refrain from endorsing at this point in the primary, but that she had seen very little from Rivera’s campaign that bolstered his claim to being the primary representative of labor in the election. “There was a lot of lip service to unions and wages at the Iowa Straw Poll, but the only one I saw go beyond that was [Minnesota Senator Harvey] Newton. I’d like to know more about how he would approach issues affecting Hispanics, but I like that he takes labor seriously.”

I'm happy to announce that @Clay has agreed to join the Admin team. Clay brings a lot of great experience and insight to our team both as a former player and admin. He'll be available to contribute in many areas, but he will mostly be focusing on economic and domestic scenarios right now. Please welcome Clay to the AB. Thanks.

The full Senate is now meeting to debate the Georgia Support Act, numbered per the orders of the Majority Leader as Senate resolution 6. The members of this noble chamber, especially my fellow Southerners should please note that this bill is pertaining to the Country of Georgia not the great state of Georgia which is on my mind.

I want to address the issue with the Nepotism hearings and the rationale of the AB in response to the process. The hearings were pursued essentially like a witch hunt, which was realistically neither called for nor appropriate. The AB is doing it's best to simulate realism and the conduct of the hearing was... not realistic. I apologize that we did not address this sooner.

I usually do not try to criticize the AB publicly, but I think the last 24-72 hours have shown us that there are some things which need to be fixed. I think there is an AB backlog which needs to be resolved ASAP. Today's issues would have been made a lot better if there was an AB member there to provide guidance on how to handle this situation. I understand Baudin is on LOA right now, so I am not blaming him as he has a legitimate reason to be away.
Not to mention, there are things we are still waiting on from the AB which have been requested for. A game calendar, IVS (the House already has votes which need tallied, so this needs to be a top priority), and technical requests are among those things.
We have players literally going on rage LOA due to the AB backlog. We should be lucky they aren't ragequitting.
Again, I do not want to criticize you guys and I do understand you have a real life, but I am afraid things are just starting to fall a little too far behind right now. Thank you for taking the time to read this and resolving the issues.

IT HAS RETURNED! Dark Secrets will make a comeback in VGS Reset 2! In the age of Gary Hart, the Keating Five, and Iran-Contra, it would be a disservice to not allow this option for players. Dark Secrets is completely optional for all players. Benefits of Dark Secrets include influence in the IVS and a bump in cash to a player's bank account. As we all know, dark secrets may not stay secret forever and thus you risk exposure and fallout if your dark secret is uncovered. Keep your eye out for inquisitive Miami Herald investigative reporters and the occasional flash of a camera from the National Enquirer!
The Biography Guidelines have also been updated. I encourage everyone to take a gander at the changes that have been made before considering making your new character. You will notice a new component called "Faction" underneath your political party. The new faction system will be expanded on over the next few days but it will significantly contribute to the new IVS influence system we will be rolling out shortly.

I want begin by thanking everyone for the positive messages of encouragement sent my way that compelled me to consider the position of Chief Administrator. I want to personally thank both @Cyril and @MrAnderson for their faith in me to carry VGS forward. I remain of the firm belief that Anderson's AB set this game on the right path and helped the current reset survive as long as it has. I think we can all agree that the 2016 elections went from potentially not even happening to a resounding success and the credit for making that happen goes to Anderson and his AB.
After consulting with Anderson and a few other individuals, we have come to the decision that VGS will be resetting. This is a decision made with careful consideration and an understanding of the need for a fresh start. I want to thank everyone who participated in the current reset who played their part in making it such a success. It's time for us as a community to move forward and I believe a reset will make that possible.
Over the next few days, the AB will be working on archiving the current reset and establishing a new time table for when players can expect the new reset to begin. We will be reviewing our current game mechanics while also entertaining the development of new ones if the player base deems it something of particular interest. I have my own ideas for game mechanics that will aim to enhance the IG world for the player base that I hope to roll out in the coming days but I want to encourage all members of our community to give suggestions on ways we can improve.
VGS isn't just a game but a community. We've got a wide array of folks from across the political spectrum that have come together to engage in spirited debate with one another and work with one another to create a realistic simulation of our own world. I remember back when I joined the 4th reset of Virtual America and I'm happy to say I've been around ever since. I've grown both as a player, as I bet people like @Conrad and @Baudin can attest to, and I'd argue I've grown as a person in both my own beliefs and knowledge of politics. VGS is a community worth fighting for and I am ready to keep this game moving forward. I'm looking forward to being a CA you all can be proud of and I hope to live up to the precedent that people like Anderson have left for me.

Beginning in the 2017 year IG, all players with executive branch characters will be required to keep a Senate multi, except POTUS. (Ie: VP and all cabinet members).
This is to maintain high senate activity and keep the games focus on everyone, not just the WH.

My fellow Americans, it is always tragic when we lose lives due to a conflict. That is no different in this situation between the protest groups for Antifa and Patriot Prayer and nobody regrets the loss of life for Aurther Johnson more than myself. However, due to a growing scale of lending legitimacy to the Neo-Con movement from Donald Trump and his cronies, we will continue to see these kinds of skirmishes at a growing rate. I've watched the right try to place all the blame on Antifa and even seen a few Senators go as far as labeling Antifa a terrorist organization. These are not terrorists any more than Patriot Prayer are terrorists. These are people who have a certain set of ideas and they have the first amendment on their side. Now I do not condone the loss of life but let's remember that skirmishes broke out and fireworks, glass bottles, and bricks were hurled by both sides.
I've always believed that Dr. King had it right when he said "Violence as a way of achieving justice is both impractical and immoral." he's also been quoted as saying "Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. Which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals." Dr. King was a great role model and civil rights leader and I'd much rather we take a page from Dr. King's book than the actions we witnessed in Portland going forward but labeling those you disagree with as terrorists and asking the FBI to create watch lists and condone the kind of actions that went on during Nixon's COINTELPRO era are wrong and I stand opposed to them in the strongest way possible.
I ask that today, can we put partisanship aside and all pray for Portland, pray for understanding and pray for peace to prevail in the future. Thank you, ladies and gentleman, it's been an honor and I believe together we can rebuild America because together we can and together we will. God bless you all.

FR#1: 600,000
FR#2: 500,000
"but unfortunately social security is under threat by the erotic spending of democrats who believe that we should give every American a universal basic income, instead of finding ways to make social security solvent."
Thank you for this Storm

We have made a ruling on third-party and independent candidates for President.
We will allow such candidates to run but to simulate the uphill battle that is ballot access, we are going to make them petition to become official candidates. This means that we will start a thread in the OOC forum where 2/3rds of the active player base as per the roster is going to have to "sign" the petition (so post in the thread) for them to quality as an official candidate.
Later on tonight I'm going to go through and make sure the roster is updated with all the active players and the people who have passed activity limits signed out to determine the official threshold for @Marmot_Of_The_Marsh and start the thread for him to start collecting signatures.

Approval Rating Postscript: Is California a Microcosm of a Larger Battle?
When polling the popularity of US Senators across the country recently, one common thread across many states with Democratic Party US Senators was a real struggle to find a balance wit﻿hin the growing ideological duels within their own party or otherwise members willing to simply draw a line in the sand. Nowhere is this more evidence than in the State of California, where both of the state's Senators have been subject to Presidential buzz and are currently embroiled in growing neighborly feud with one another.
Although she doesn't totally fit the progressive mold, with more hawkish approach to foreign policy at times and having faced a lot of criticism for her initial outreach on a bill dealing with the divisive "Mexico City Policy", Catherine Williams has started to find some real support among social media-friendly younger and progressive voters due to her outspoken nature which seems to court controversy. Her approach has often been blunt, and her rhetoric on the poverty gap, race relations in this nation, and taking on the more traditional liberal elements in her party such as Joe Dotson of Washington have won her just as many admirers on the movement left as they have stern critics both within her party and beyond from moderates. In the latter group, many point to her strong opposition from the left to TANF Reauthorization (joined by fellow emerging progressive voice in the Senate, Randy Rivera of New Mexico) which most of her ﻿own party supported and her roundly criticized moment on the Senate with Rutherford Kong, an African-American Republican from Rhode Island, which many saw as her challenging him on his "blackness" as examples of her being outside the mainst﻿ream within her own party. However, with the much more enthusiastic left-wing in the aftermath of the 2016 elections and the 2018 midterms that saw several notable examples of a new generation of progressives ascend to Congress, she has also found an increase of followers who ascribe to the idea that the left needs their own blunt-force personalities to take on President Trump and the Republican Party. ﻿
Martin Arroyo on the other hand, couldn't strike much more a different figure if he tried. Vocal but more cautious with his word, critical against the Trump Administration but willing to compromise, Arroyo comes across very much as the type of center-left Democrat which dominated the party's leadership and public face throughout much of the Obama Administration for better or worse. Coming to prominence as one of the lead combatants in the battles with the former Attorney General whose resignation and followed not long after by the successful bid he spearheaded to bring the new Amazon HQ2 to his home city of Los Angeles has his star shining bright in the Sunshine State right now although with battle lines between his counterpart being drawn clearly and in public.
Although broadly popular within the extended LA metro area, it wasn't long that Catherine Williams began to set her sights on Arroyo and the Amazon deal despite her early endorsement of a new HQ coming into California. Citing many of the same the areas of criticism that ultimately led to the original bid's failure in New York in regards to labor and business practices, Williams wasted no time attacking not only the decision but Arroyo himself for the way in which he handled the bid and the several other major cities in the state which were overlooked. Arroyo quickly shot back by both highlighting the previous endorsement of a California Amazon location by Mrs. Williams as well as promoting the estimated economic benefits the deal would bring to the state.
While certainly the possibility of a Presidential primary showdown between the two has heightened tensions of late with their shared homestate being the biggest delegate prize, it also seems to act as a microcsm and the growing divides between insurgent progressives an﻿d more traditionally center-left Democrats in the country as seen on issues such as the Green New Deal, minimum wage increases, and the TANF re-authorization where some like Mrs. Williams, Randy Rivera and Senator Dave Bautista of New York have openly challenged perceptions of how statewide officials in their states traditionally carry and align themselves while the more entrenched traditionalists like Senator Arroyo, Joe Dotson of Washington, and Elizabeth Sawyer of Maryland are faced with navigating the landminds of becoming targets of their party's own left flank. ﻿﻿

Interviewing Agency: The Virginia-Pilot (Norfolk, Virginia daily newspaper)
On the construction of the border wall:
"What nobody talks about is the impact that the President's imaginary emergency is taking critical funding away from our armed forces at a time when they need it. By diverting money away from military construction, tens, potentially hundreds, of millions of dollars that were meant for providing critical upgrades to military bases like Norfolk Navy Yard, Naval Station Norfolk, and Joint Base Langley, are being diverted to building this wholly unnecessary wall on the southern border. We're putting constructing quality housing for America's troops here in Virginia, and even across the ocean in Korea and Germany, in the back seat - hurting America's military families - just so that this irresponsible President can achieve his right-wing talking point that, at the end of the day, will do nothing to make America safer. This irresponsibility must end today. America's military families and military facilities must become a top priority for defense funding. We cannot have a partisan, pathetic, poorly planned pet-project weaken the strength of America's brave men and women in uniform and their families."

I want to let everyone know that @Brink has decided to resign from the AB due to time constraints. I had the pleasure of working with Brink in the GOP last round and then on the AB. He was always a team player and a lot of fun to be around. Hopefully when he has more time on his hands, he can return as an active player. Please join me in thanking him for his contributions.

@SenRabin: @realDonaldTrump consider looking for my primary contender
@SenRabin: A wall will not secure the border, we need a bipartisan solution not threats.
@SenRabin: But Mr. President after serving 30 years and in two military conflicts, your threats dont scare me.

Alright guys we are gonna roll this thing out with discipline and a unified message. The Protecting American Textile Manufacturing Act was proposed last session by Recks (when he was a Dem) that received bipartisan support from people like Conrad and Ben. The crux of this bill would ban textile exports from the Soviet Union. The bill passed the House with over 300 votes and a majority in the Senate. It was vetoed by Reagan.
This could work to put Anderson in a corner. His own vice president votes for the bill along with the RNC Chairman and House Minority Leader. We can make Anderson choose whether he'll buck his own party, veto the bill, and piss off unions or sign the bill and piss off corporate interests and free traders. We benefit from this either way.
The following is what we are gonna need:
A Party PR Championing the Bill
PR from Me as Speaker
PR from Storm as Majority Leader
PR from Frank as Majority Whip but also as ASFAJ Chair since it'll hit that committee first
PRs from multiple other members

Well, a few notes from my perspective:
1. First and foremost: I'm personally kind of on the fence when it comes to a reset, though leaning against. On one hand, it is easier to attract a new CA and AB (should Ollie not want to stay on in the position) when they can build their own scenario from the ground up rather than trying to fix the problems that came before, and the several people who decided to leave largely because of inactivity of the AB are probably more likely to return for a new reset. However, on the other hand at the beginning of this round we saw a lot of people who in the past haven't stuck around for long or ever been too active really get into the game due to the unique setting of '88, as well as people like myself and Anderson who were kind of exhausted after last round and probably would have taken a pass on at least the first few months has the scenario not piqued our interest. Likewise, there are a lot of people who have put a lot of effort into building their characters even despite the odds stacked against the round lasting too long who would probably (rightfully) feel kind of cheated, especially since R1 proved that no round is beyond saving.
2. I agree with Anderson and Ollie that the number one issue has been Admin Activity in general, as well as Admin Communication. There's been very little in the way of coverage of player activities outside, the scenario creation tended to fall into either the categories of esoteric or nonexistent, and many technical requests and scenario-based questions took days (if ever) to be addressed with the line of communication being so thin that at times I often wasn't even sure who was on the AB. I think so many of the issues of this reset could be fixed with just having an AB that is more tapped into what's going on in the player base both in-game as well as OOC as well as provide more avenues for players to engage in the game than just the legislative or running for office.
3. There are a few things that I think can be done to refocus things within this current round. Some suggestions I would have include scrapping the factional system which thus far has seemed to really have no impact on the game with the factional IVS having never been adopted and people freely voting how they want thus rendering any "voting blocs" (especially considering there are some that have just one or zero players representing them) moot, as well as exploring the idea of giving a little bit more freedom with the player media system which would allow players to keep some of the money they make from grading (with a stiff transfer penalty to ensure that we don't have situations like Anderson and Thyne in the VUSA R10 Senate races never having to post a single fundraiser and still having tons of money left over) as long as they invest some to at least maintain their media's current standing so as to encourage more people to launch one and thus be able to take some workload of the hands of the AB.

Bread and Roses Magazine
Bread and Roses Magazine was established in the fall of 2016 by New School Associate History Professor Caleb “Cal” Houston and longtime labor organizer Janette Pettis with the intent of covering the crisis of neoliberalism, the labor movement, and current affairs from a democratic socialist perspective. Based in Brooklyn,Bread and Roses Magazine aspires to connect with a leftist audience, dissatisfied with a perpetually rightward-shifting political discourse and the hollowing out of the American left within mainstream labor and political vehicles.
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Not sure if I am leaving anything out for a media bio - let me know, thanks!